Hello Dear Readers,
A couple of weeks ago I went to one of my favourite cafes in Melbourne, Greens, in Brunswick. They make so many different rustic homemade cakes, but I can’t help buying a Vanilla Slice (Custard slice, or Mille-Feuille to which it is also called depending on where you live). Theirs was a lot lighter than the version I have always made, the version which is in my baking book, A Piece of Cake. I think Greens is perhaps made out of a custard power, maybe with some cream folder in? So I thought I would try to make one which was similar, but using fresh ingredients rather than any powders, as I like the idea of unprocessed, but hey thats just me. So first I made the standard custard I normally use for my vanilla slice then set about incorporating some cream into it so it would be a lighter version. I added some gelatine which I would have preferred not to use as it still freaks me out what its made of, it steams from my vegetarian days.
The result was pretty darn good in my opinion, so good I pretty much ate the whole thing myself, ok I did share a tennie tiny bit 🙂 Most places add an icing to the top of their vanilla slice, in general aa passionfruit icing, however I prefer to sprinkle it with icing sugar, which does make for messy eating but I find you can enjoy the flavour of the custard far better than when its iced, as its a bit sweet for me. But feel free to ice them if you love it. This version of vanilla slice is lighter than my standard one but its a nice change.
You could also replace the puff pastry with a choux pastry, to recreate the polish slice a karpatka, rather than the french version Mille-Feuille which uses puff, but just like the french, I love me some butter 🙂 Don’t you just love how different parts of the world have there own take on a baked good, or a type of food. Do you know of any other versions of a vanilla slice?
I hope you enjoy this slice as much as I enjoyed baking and eating it.
Happy Baking xxx
Sophia
- 2 sheets store bought puff pastry
- 1 1⁄2 cups milk
- 1 cup cream
- 5 egg yolks
- 2⁄3 cup white sugar
- 1⁄4 cup of cornflour
- 1 tablespoon gelatine
- ¼ cup of water
- 300ml of thickened cream
- Preheat oven to 180°C
- Cut both pieces of puff pastry to the size of the cake tin, if you don’t have one the same size as the puff pastry otherwise use that. Place both sheets of puff pastry on a baking tray with another baking tray over the top of the pastry this is so it doesn’t puff too much. Bake for 15-20 miutes or until golden. Place one of the sheets into the cake tin.
- Meanwhile, to make the filling, place the milk, cream, yolks, sugar and cornflour into a saucepan over a low heat. Whisking constantly until the mixture becomes thick. Remove from the heat and let cool. Place the gelatine and hot water into a bowl and stir until the gelatine dissolves, set aside. In an electric beater, whisk the cream until soft peaks form. Fold the gelatine into the custard and then fold in the cream.
- Pour the mixture over the sheet of puff pastry. Place the other sheet of pastry on top. Cover with cling wrap and place in the fridge for 6 hours to set.
Lucy @ Bake Play Smile says
Such gorgeous photos! And one of my all-time favourite recipes. Yum!
Sophia says
Thanks Lucy 🙂 custard is one of the best things in the world in my humble opinion
Margot says
That looks amazing!!!
Napoleonka and Karpatka are my all time favorite types of Polish pastries… the later one is a bit more difficult to recreate at home but I’m very tempted now after seeing your delicious post, especially that I won’t get a chance to buy it where I live.
Sophia says
Yes you’ll have to make it, its not as hard as it seems. The hardest thing is deciding your going to make it 🙂 Let me know how you go.
Sabrina says
I love ANYTHING custard. This looks fantastic. Just beautiful.
Sophia says
Thanks Sabrina:) Yes me too, custard is the best.